The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-03-26
BETTER THAN A BOOM.

There are no coal and iron mines ofmucb
but they will never be missed if the people
of the county shall profit by the important
lesson that has been taught them by their
first experience of the benefits to be OBJ
tanned from bringing the cotton mills to
the elton fields.
Since January the factory at the town
of Sumter has made so handsome returns
for the money invested in it that ''a divi-
dend of per cent has been declared, ten
per cent has been passed over to the sur
plus, $4,000 has been appropriated for the
purchase of additional machinery, and the
well-earned salary of the president has been
increased by one-half." This is decidedly a
favorable showing for a new mill, run
solely by steam power, and we doubt that
as good record can be presented by any
other cotton factory in the country. There
il ample room for more mills Of the same
kind in Sumter, and in all South Carolina,
and the strongest possible argument that
can be made for their establishment is
that which is contained in the figures we
have given.
Every pound of cotton grown in the
South should be converted into cloth before
it passes its borders, and there is nothing to
prevent the accomplishment of this most
desirable end, except the absence OF suffi-
cient. number of mills to handle the entire
crop. It will not be many years before
they are built. One successful venture like
that at Sumter will encourage other towns
and villages to try the same experiment,
and sure, if slow, progress is being made
every year.
The ''hum" of tho whirling spindles is
better than "boom" of any kind, and is
already familiar sound in many places
where it was never heard, and was meyer
expected to be heard. until a few years or
months ago. It is the music of progress,
and South Carolina's place is ever in the
front rank. Bring the mills to the COT
TOM Charleston NeUs and Courier.
We reproduce the above tor the in"
terest of those who cannot see why or
how the farming classes are interested
in the protection of home industries
and the encouragement of manufac-
lures. Suppose, aud the supposilion is
a reasonable one, that all the cotton
produced in Louisiana was manufac-
tured into useful commodities before il
left her borders, would not such state
of things benefit the farmer? If we
had all those factories here, which pro.
lection alone can bring, would not
every interest in the State and agricul-
ture most of all flourish "like green
bay tree" On the other hand, we
know too we'll how withered and dis
heartening is the business condition of
country where there is no diversity
of industries and the Interpretations
of tho overcrowded farms find their
way into starvation market. The
free-traders say, forsooth, we must find
a market by entering into competition
abroad with countries whose facilities
for manufacturing are already perfected
and whose advantages We can never
hope to enjoy! "These be brave
words'-especially when our free-trade
friends would have US enter the lists CT
foreign commerce burdened with an
appalling weight Of direct taxation.
Would it not DO more discreet for the
South to perfect its manufactures before
entering the commercial combat OF the
world? If we can establish factories,
In heavens name let us get to work.
There are 112 cotton factories in North
Carolina. There is but one in operation
In Louisiana. How do you like the
contrast? In all this hubbub of poll
tics, in all this personal clamor for
promotion, is it not still true that the
noblest patriots and the best citizens
are those who will help to build facto-
ries for the manufacture of our raw
products, develop the vnst resources of
Louisiana and revive her pristine pros
perity by Investigation OF her in
dustries?
The Ouachita Telegraph is whooping up
somebody, 1t don't say who, (but we infer